Obama Could Disarm Them

He rules a country from the left, yet he doesn't have any need to be totalitarian. He has been called a socialist, yet he doesn't jail his political opponents, censor critical media, or try to amend the Constitution to prolong his time in power.

Just by being himself, our new liberal American president could disarm the Latin American left.

When President Barack Obama goes south of the border this week, he has a unique opportunity to change the course of Latin American history. Just by being himself, he could steer Latin America back from its recent decline toward totalitarian socialism. The revival of the old Latin American caudillos , now re-branded as leftists, could come to a screeching halt if Obama plays his cards well.

First in Mexico and then in Trinidad and Tobago, where he will participate in the Summit of the Americas with 33 other leaders this weekend, Obama undoubtedly will begin a new chapter in the history of U.S. relations with Latin America and the English-speaking Caribbean.

The question now is this: What kind of a chapter does Obama want to write? Will he tell Latin Americans to seek freedom and democracy above everything else? Or will he end up agreeing to sing "Kumbaya" with people who should be tried for crimes against humanity? Will he embrace dictators and ignore their atrocities, as a group of Democratic lawmakers did in Cuba last week, or will he tell Latin Americans that any kind of caudillo , from the left or from the right, should be a thing of the past?

After announcing an executive order lifting U.S. travel restrictions for Cuban-Americans who want to visit or send remittances to their relatives back on the Caribbean island, two White House spokesmen — in English and Spanish — insisted Monday that the Obama administration now expects the Cuban government to make concessions that would lead to freedom and democracy for the Cuban people. This is crucial, and it means that President Obama may be on the right track.

We simply cannot lift the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba without seeing some change — fewer political prisoners, violations of human rights, and mobs of government-sponsored goons and less repression and censorship, just to get started.

Because he is considered a leftist, in Latin America, Obama may have much more credibility to speak for democratic principles than his predecessor. Let's face it: The radically leftist Latin American leadership nowadays — especially in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador — doesn't know what to do with Obama. In order to promote themselves as crusaders against "Yankee imperialism," they would much prefer to have someone like George W. Bush in the White House.

And because Obama doesn't look or act like a Yankee imperialist, they know they have a huge "problema" on their hands. How do they keep using the United States as an excuse for seeking authoritarian powers? Where is the American boogeyman now?

Yet if Obama speaks in Latin America the way he spoke in Europe, if he addresses anti-American sentiments the way he did in Strasbourg, France, many confused Latinos may begin to identify their own real boogeymen.

"There have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive," Obama said. "But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual but can also be insidious."

Wow! If he says something similar to that at the Summit of the Americas, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega will have to duck!

If Obama recognizes that in the past, our government has "shown arrogance and been dismissive" toward Latin America while firmly explaining that there is no need for insidious anti-Americanism, he will disarm our worst critics and go a long way toward changing the course of U.S. relations with our hemispheric neighbors.

After all, unlike the liberal Latin American demagogues who use fear and repression to stay in power, Obama is a liberal leader who doesn't need to violate his people's civil and human rights. Just by being himself, Obama could disarm them!

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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